Cry for the Big Bad Wolf
by Vahditar
Summary: The trouble starts when Fabeltown's sheriff needs not just to help the strange mundy kid in searching for her mother, but also her place between the two worlds, Mundies and Fables.
1. Once there was a little wolf

Hello, I'm back. It has been long, too long, and I'm sorry about that but now I have found my way back with better sense of direction and determination. I have started rewriting the story so I have deleted some chapters and gonna make some changes.

Thanks to all of you who have been waiting and commenting, favoriting and following this so far. Also thank you 8annie81, your comments have been good critic, making me pay attention to things in the story and think and work on them. So thank you.

Let's start this, hopefully you'll enjoy!

* * *

**Bigby's Office  
**The Woodland Building  
Sometime at late night

Bigby, aka the Big Bad Wolf aka Sheriff Wolf, leaned back on his office chair and run a hand against his tired face.  
Pinching bridge of his nose with heavy sigh he cast his warm brown eyes to the working desk.  
It was messy, everything covered under layers of papers.  
Papers, letters, reports, notes... They where mostly about complaints. Angry, frustrated, some more or less impolite complaints.  
And he had been going through the whole stack through the whole day and yet, it didn't seem any lesser.  
In his tired, cranky mind Bigby thought that maybe someone had slipped in more papers or an illusion spell when he hadn't been looking.  
But that was very unlikely. He would have noticed and it had been just him in the small room the whole time. There was just... So damn many of these papers.  
He needed an assistant or some kind of helper to sort all of these.  
Just like Snow White had Bufkin helping her.

Deciding to end for today the sheriff pulled out cigarette pack from his blouse's breast pocket, took one between his lips and lit it.  
One smoke and he would drag himself to his apartment, leave the paper pile like this on the desk. It wasn't like this pile would disappear anywhere nor get any smaller on its own.  
Inhaling bitter smoke and then letting it out the wolf man watched the rising, swirling smoke. He thought about how things were nowadays.

Four months had gone after the Crooked Man's case, when all the nasty problems of Fable community had been brought into the broad daylight.  
Blackmailing, threats, illegal glamours' black marketing, slavery, corruption, murders…  
It all had been fucked up when Wolf and Snow finally had discovered what had gone on for years as the Crooked man had taken control of everything from the shadows. And Ichabod Crane, who still was hiding somewhere overseas, would probably never come back after his working for Crooked man had been revealed.  
Well, that was just good because if Bigby would ever see that piece of shit again, he would rip the man's head off and toss it downthe Witching Well.  
...That was the thing that Bigby really had wanted to do for the Crooked man too, back then, but… He hadn't.  
Maybe it was a good thing too as how the things had settled in the end.

But even if Crane, Crooked man and his minions were out of the picture it didn't make things any less messy than they were.  
Ever since then sheriff Wolf and Snow White had their hands full, fixing things that Crane neglected and Crooked man exploited for years.  
`Trying to make things right´ by the book had sounded good when Snow had said it, back then.  
In the beginning the sheriff and the new mayor hadn't been sure where to start, searching for the wiggling tail of this whole damn thing. And when they had found it, the shit pile of broken things just kept building up without an end.  
...There had been changes though, good kinds of.  
At least to Bigby it seemed that there was less things wrong every month as he and Snow tried to do their best to fix them. Listen everyone, help everyone, do good for their community.  
But Fables still weren't fully trusting on them and that made fixing things difficult. Bigby and Snow hadn't even had time to... Well, talk.  
Although he wasn't truly sure what they should talk about, outside the work he meant. It was complicated.  
He took another, deep, inhale from cigarette.  
At least the hard work had been noticed by many and, even if few, had started to trust on the Big Bad Wolf. It was unnerving yet a good feeling for Bigby, being accepted and his efforts being noticed. And appreciated.  
Although, doing his work wasn't as easier as it had been when he could do things on his own way freely. But no, he liked more of this even if it was hard sometimes.  
It was much better this way.

The ringing of the office phone startled him and he searched for the damn thing from under the paper piles.  
Picking it up he answered with his deep, rough voice.

_"This is sheriff Wolf."  
"Bigby, it's me."  
"__**Holly**__? What's wrong?"  
"Listen, I know it's late and all but could you come here to the Trip Trap? We need you to… Look at something."  
"What is it?"  
"I... I can't talk about it right in the phone now. We have here **some kind of** situation on."  
__**"Just tell that fucker to come here already."  
**__"__**Gren**__, shut up will ya. So, will you come here?"  
"I'm on my way Holly."_

* * *

**The Trip Trap Bar  
**The Bronx

Bigby repeated the call as he sat on the back of a taxi.  
The conversation at the phone hadn't been very long and had held in so little information as Holly didn't tell… Well, _anything_ about the situation in the bar.  
So Bigby was trying to think what it might be that would make Holly call him there.  
The bartender and the owner of the Trip Trap Bar was never easy to ask his or anyone's help.  
Not over a little thing at least.  
Holly was, in all respect, a strong _troll_ woman who could take care of herself and the bar on her own. Especially if Grendel was there, which he mostly was, as that troll man was very fond of her and therefore ready to do anything for Holly.  
Bigby didn't need to _smell_ it from him to know that there was something between those two.  
Not even dozen of Huff &amp; Puff cigarettes could cover it, unfortunately.

So it was something that even Gren couldn't take care of then.  
Like a giant going on berserk or... Murder?  
Hopefully not, not another one, they didn't need those. One more Fable murder would be too much for Snow White right now and Bigby didn't want that either.

The taxi came to stop and the sheriff got out right in front of the stairs that would lead down to bar's front door.  
Stepping down the Wolf listened carefully if there was any alarming voices or something coming out, but as he stood there in front of the door... It was quiet.  
Mild silence was nothing new at the Trip Trap, it wasn't that kind of place. Mostly regulars came here like Woody, Gren –obviously-, Toad, Jack and other Fables.  
But the complete silence behind the door at this time was something different, there wasn't even background music to pick up. It was alarming.  
Sheriff didn't hesitate to walk in and look around, searching for anything deviant.  
There was no crazy giant, no blood anywhere, no Mundy reporters taking pictures of uncovered Fable nor naked Woody dancing on the counter.  
Ugh, the mental images, no. Never, why.

Apart from missing music everything looked like as usual as it always was here. Even Holly and Gren were on their usual spots, she behind the counter and Gren on his regular barstool.  
But the two Fables kept glancing at the closed backroom's door. Then they noticed him.

Bigby walked to stand next to Gren and raised a brow to them in questioning manner. He took a cautious sniff of the air.  
Nope, no blood. Just the scents of Holly, Gren, him and then-  
"It's about fucking time you got here, _Sheriff_", Grendel greeted in his typical grumpy way, calling Bigby by his title sarcastically even, and leaned against the counter. Though there was a small smirk on his face.  
Holly in other hand looked at the Sheriff with thoughtful expression, her arms crossed and chin slightly down.  
Bigby wasn't sure what to gather from their mixed signals, but maybe it had something to do with the fourth scent he had picked up. He had never smelled this one before, it was coming from a stranger.

The strange scent was like air in a summer after storm and thunderbolts. As if the air was clear, fresh and light being cleaned by lightning strikes and leaving behind electric tone. There was also traces of cold streets, dirt and sweat.  
"Holly, you called me here so what's going on?" the Wolf went straight to the business, not sure should he be suspicious or what as Holly had called him here so... What was the problem here?

Unexpectedly it was Gren who talked first.  
"You won't _believe_ what Holly and I found. Or what came here, if you want to put it that way", the Fable man said with a sly smirk. "Say, Mr. Wolf... You have any… Ex-bitches in the closet, or has there been any addition in the family of yours?"  
The very much odd, absurd sentence confused Bigby greatly but also made him glare at the other one. For using the b-word and talking about his family.  
But mostly this whole thing was starting to irritate him.  
Gren was not a talker. Libelous and sarcastic, yes, but still not talking if it was not important.  
And Holly absolutely was not the one to beat around the bush for anything as she was a bold... _Troll lady.  
_She spoke as the things were, a thing that Bigby liked at her.  
Holly finally started to explain.  
"Yeah... Bigby, look. I don't usually ask for help, but in this one we don't know what to do, definitely not in_ this _particular one. If it was some stupid asshole trying some shit, we would had handle it already. But it's not. So, I just called for you so you could... You know, take care of it. This. Her. Fuck, just take her somewhere. This isn't place for a kid", the troll lady was explaining and glancing now and then to the closed door.  
"Okay.." Sheriff said unsurely, some bewildered by the mention of kid in something here. Now he also was glancing to the door and spreading his hands when he looked back to the two.  
So this was about someone, _a __kid_, _her_. Couldn't they be more precise?  
"Just tell me what is going on and I'll look what I can do."

"I found a Mundy kid", Holly blurred out, then corrected herself more calmly: "Or a kid came here. A mundy kid. Kinda. She came here on her own."  
Bigby was not expecting that nor understanding why it was this big of a problem.  
Why they needed him? They could just have called Mundy police to fetch the kid and-  
"First I thought she was just a lost Mundy kid, you know? Trying to look for her parents. A bar isn't the first place to look for though, unless you got one of those shitty parents... I was going to get her out as there were other Fables around but then... Well, she chang-"  
"She is a fucking _half-Fable_" Gren spoiled, chuckling and smirking like crazy as Holly glared at him. She turned her gaze back to the Sheriff.  
"Yeah, it seems so." Holly glanced again at the door. "She just changed while starting to cry, but not wholly. The changing I mean. And she doesn't have a glamour and she was so confused of our questions so we just thought that she's some kind of... I don't know, a half-breed?"  
Bigby stared at the two, stunned.  
Grendel laughed even more when seeing Wolf's dumbfounded face. This was better than any fight or pay back to see that dumb look on the lapdog's face!

Bigby started to walk straight to the door, past Gren who tried to hold his hurting ribs, but Holly stopped the Wolf and told Gren to shut up. She didn't want either of them to wake up their little _guest _in the backroom with this kind of ruckus.  
Would just frighten the girl again.

Bigby wasn't sure what to think about this, at all, and he glanced from the door to Holly.  
They were serious?  
A half-Fable? They really existed?  
"What exactly happened?" Bigby asked.  
"I'll tell the whole thing. Gren, shut up already, it's not that funny anymore."  
"It is!"

* * *

Bigby leaned against the bar's backroom doorway, arms crossed and scowl on his face.  
The backroom was dark, the only light source coming from behind him and creating a long shadow over the small, sleeping figure in backroom's bunk.

Holly had told how the kid had walked in the bar, all nervous and out of place.  
And when Holly had told the kid to go away, the girl had not left. Instead she had started asking about her mother, describing and asking has her mother been there.  
First Holly just tried to ignore the questions and get the kid out but the kid didn't take any steps back.  
Not even when Gren finally got fed up.  
That's when things had really started to go down hill as the kid started to spat out that she wasn't afraid of freaks. Holly had been forced to use some of he troll _charm_ to get everyone keep their places and not get to the girl who, despite her attitude and words, was shaking.  
And she, seemingly, transformed.  
Half-Fable likely, whatever that exactly meant. There weren't much about them as they were, ironically, like _fable_. There just weren't supposed to be them, or at least there hadn't been any _yet_.  
Not many Fable though such _things_ between Mundies and Fables nor even was _it_ possible.  
But yeah, back to the kid and what had happened.

After the girl's transformation and the tense situation Holly finally had it. The troll woman ordered everyone, expect Gren and the girl, to get out as the bar was closed for today. In the end the two trolls calmed the child down and talked, getting nothing out of her, and so the girl ended sleeping in the backroom from exhaustion.

Bigby could imagine everyone's surprise and confuse at that moment when the girl had changed.  
Half-Fable…  
There were no information about them, only a handful of non-proved rumors and even those were known by not so many Fables.  
Because half-Fables… There really weren't them, they were something that you didn't even think about because it wasn't even certain could Mundy and Fable have any offsprings. And nobody had tried that, at least not that they knew, so unless the half-breed's Fable parent was something _very _different, like a dragon or a fairy, nobody would notice a half-breed from Mundies.  
There weren't even any mentions of them in the Business office's books, although Bigby hadn't really looked for the information.  
But whatever the rumors said, Bigby had always trusted his senses and he would do that also now, as his senses told him that there was _a person_ in Holly's bunk.  
A person who needed help.

From the doorway he could smell and see the so called _half-Fable_, he just had to see for himself that the child was what the trolls said.  
…Which was soon, he just needed to… Think, how to talk to the… Child. The small... Thing.  
Bigby scratched his head, staring at he bunk.  
He really wasn't good with kids, didn't feel easy around them.  
Maybe because he was _a wolf_. People always pictured wolves as monsters who ate children and babies and so children were instinctively scared of them. And children were so tiny, and fragile. And they run around and yell, which by the way hurt his ears a hellava lot, and they asked awkward questions, stared awkwardly and-  
"She has slept for an hour now, so you can wake her up anytime you want", Holly hinted, teasingly, as she and Gren studied the Big Bad Wolf.  
He _almost_ looked like being _scared_ by the little thing.  
_A child_? _The Big Bad Wolf_?  
It was funny situation to witness, almost paid back to Gren the time when the Sheriff gave him a beat-up and almost ripped his arm off.  
They also wanted to see how Bigby was going to response to the _one thing_ about the girl.  
"It's not gonna bite you, Sheriff", the troll man rushed after some waiting, earning a glare from the Wolf.  
Gren's smirk just got wider.  
"Shut up."

Taking his attention from troll man Bigby steeled himself and started to approach the sleeping kid, thinking what was the best way to wake her up. Standing next to he bunk, looking down he really couldn't think anything good.  
Well, he had do start somewhere.  
"Hey, kid."  
…Nothing, the small bundle under the thick blanket just slightly moved and he could see the dark-brown hair peeking under from it.  
He lightly poked the child through the cover.  
"Hey, wake up", the gruff, demanding voice and poking woke up the child.  
Really woke her up for good.  
The blanket fell as the girl shot up, standing on the bed and scrambling against the wall her back against it.

Bigby was taken back by the strong reaction, but that was _not_ what made him take a step back.  
It was the transformation on the girl that happened when she rose up.  
She stared him back with one _golden feral_ _eye_ and with one normal light brown. And she _growled_ while revealing her _canine teeth_ to him. There was _fur_, same color as her hair, growing unevenly on her face that had a slight change to more beast-a-like.  
All in all, her form kind of reminded of Bigby's own half-transforming but more unevenly around her body.  
But wait, she… She was half-_wolf_-Fable?

The little girl snarled to him, more with a warning than scariness this time.  
Well, she had stood her ground against a grumbling troll when Gren had lost his nerve and after that a room full of Fables.  
You have to raise a hat for that.  
Bigby was so surprised of this wolf-thing reveal that he forgot to keep himself in check, he too half-transformed.  
The girl muted after seeing that, being for a moment as much surprised as Bigby was, the two –well, one and a half- pair of feral eyes staring at each other.  
Holly and Gren were at the doorway and not so amused anymore.  
They were concerned. They weren't so sure anymore that the Sheriff would be _so nice_ to the kid as the two beast ones were transformed and stared at each other.  
Or would the girl do… Something, attack in fear or runaway.  
And they wouldn't have any of that, they maybe were trolls but not monsters.

In this odd, tense and surprised situation Bigby took a good look at the pup.  
The girl was small, maybe not even older than ten years, and she had short, straight hair. There seemed to be old, small scar over her right eyebrow.  
She was wearing black hoodie, blue jeans and red sneakers that had cartoonish bones pattern on them.  
Bigby stared at the girl, hearing her racing heartbeats and smelling strongly the fear radiating from her. It was the smell that made him snap out of it, shake his head to get his focus back and changing back to his human form.  
The girl didn't follow his lead though.  
She kept showing her whole set of canine teeth and glaring, even though Bigby could see her shaking against the wall.  
In other situation, if Bigby was more of his old self and the girl had been a lot older, he had taken the girl's act as a threat for a challenge.  
But that wasn't the case now, no, the girl was just a pup who was scared of him.  
He needed to calm her down to get information of her situation and maybe help her.

"Hi", he tried to say in gentle way, even trying to smile but only heard small puppy-like-growl coming out again.  
He really wished Snow would be here with him, she knew how to talk to… Children.  
"Listen, kid", the Wolf hold his hands up and decided just go right to the business. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm trying to help. I am Sheriff Wolf."  
The child watched him carefully, his hands and his posture, clearly thinking what Bigby was, a threat or something else?  
Her sharp gaze made Bigby feel uneasy, he always thought children had this kind of creepy way to stare at people. Like seeing through you, straight to the bottom of your soul and judging you.  
Creepy feeling as hell.

"You don't look like a sheriff", the girl finally spoke, looking him closely. "You don't have a badge or a star with you."  
A two muffled chuckles made them look to the doorway and the two Fables.  
"It's okay, I called him here. He really is the Sheriff", Holly assured.  
"But not fucking good one if you ask me", Gren had to add, his arms crossed.

The wolf man was, more than just a little, surprised to _hear_ and _see_ the girl's glare changing to a shy smirk and chuckling to Gren's words.

From the girl's side to be told, she kinda liked the two trolls.  
They were cool, as miss Holly named lady owned the bar and how she had told even the scariest guys before just piss off. And mister Grendel –or Gren as he preferred- was… Well, at first she had been… Intimidated by him, but she liked the way he said things like they were bluntly and unafraid.  
Yeah, they were cool and especially as Holly had promised to help her.  
So if they said so, although Gren's comment was a little sketchy, she could trust on this _sheriff_ Wolf right?  
At least for now.  
The girl relaxed somewhat, her form changing to human as her both eyes changed to light brown ones and claws and teeth going back to normal and the fur fading away.  
She also fell to sit on the bed, still leaning against the wall and looking cautiously up to the strange man.

Bigby thought it was for the best if he squat in front of her, so he wouldn't seem so big and intimidating being on the same eye level with her.  
But it didn't help, she crossed her arms and lowered her chin, staring at him in that creepy way again like all children do.  
See? He just wasn't good with kids.  
"So… What's your name, pup?" Bigby started questioning and took out a cigarette, but then rethought while putting it between his lips. Was it okay to smoke in front of a pup?  
"I'm not a _pup_", she corrected him. "I'm a human child. And name's Aleine", she answered shortly and Bigby nodded. Good, she was cooperating with him, they wouldn't get very far if she would just keep her mouth shut.  
"Okay, Aleine. Where's your mother? Or dad? Or whoever watches after you."  
She seemed to think about it for a minute, gaze going from Bigby to Holly and Gren and back to Bigby.  
"You don't know where my mom is?" she asked  
"I wouldn't be asking if I know. I don't even know what her name is."  
There was a change in her gaze, like a twig that somebody bends so much that it starts to creak and crack under the pressure. Aleine's brows hunched, worry coating her and he could hear her heartbeat raising a bit.  
"What's your mother's name anyway?" Bigby kept asking while holding his unlit cigarette between forefinger and thumb.

"Julia. Julia Bates. Brown, long hair. Green eyes. Couple of… Scars on right cheek. Human", she started to give description of her mother in a fast pace, looking at Bigby like he should know someone like that. There was somewhat desperation, worry, creeping into her voice as she continued.  
"You know someone like that, right? You have seen my mother?"  
Putting the unused cigarette to breast pocket Bigby answered truthfully: "Sorry, Aleine, but… We don't keep any _humans_ with us. We like to keep our extinct in secret from Mundies you see, I mean from humans."  
And why he was telling- Well, the kid kind of was like them, and yet was not at the same time.  
But if she now was a half-Fable, they maybe had to do something about it. Her being what she was actually gave to this whole situation a new, heavy weight as how to go from here.  
But for now this was about a child searching for her mother.

Aleine lowered her gaze, feeling pressure behind her eyes. Her chest was clenching and fear was consuming her thoughts fast. It had been days as she had searched for mom, trying to find something to get in tracks, just wandered not knowing where to go. She had suspected the freaks but they didn't have mother, they didn't know her even. So if mama weren't with them then where was she? She couldn't just-  
…It has been already _days_.  
The girl lowered her face so that her hair fall like a curtains in front of her face. She was hugging herself and what Bigby could tell, she was trying hard not to cry. Swallowing silently every sniffle and kept taking steady breaths.

The Sheriff rubbed his chin covered in stubble and felt uneasy while looking at Aleine. He felt like he had done something wrong now with the kid by making her cry. Bigby looked at the doorway in lost but the trolls weren't there.  
Looks like they as well didn't feel comfortable with sad kids. Figures. This is why he didn't want to deal with kids. He made them cry in some point even if he didn't try to and then he didn't know how to fix it.  
"Listen, Aleine." he tried to calm the other one, looking with sorry. "You really don't know where you mother is?"  
"No", the girl answered quietly, not looking at him. "That's why I'm looking for her", she added with some sharpness, frustration.  
"…Is she a… Really a human? She doesn't turn to something different or do some… Non-human things? She doesn't talk about Fables?"  
The girl lifted her gaze, her brows knitting together for the unrecognized word.  
"What's that? _Fables_?" she asked, like Bigby had called her mother by names, but at least her reaction told that her mother didn't seem to be a Fable but a Mundy. Or then the mother hadn't told about her origins.  
"Fables are…" Bigby trailed off, not sure how to explain to the kid about them. How would he put it for a child? Well…  
"Like characters from stories, you have heard stories right?"  
Damn stupid question, even the kid looked at him like she thought that way.  
"Yeah... For example, I'm the Big Bad Wolf."

Aleine's eyes widened from the revelation, forgetting the growing worry about her mother for a moment. Big Bad Wolf? Really? Then she looked at him skeptically, making that creepy, piercing stare again.  
"You don't look…"  
Like a wolf?  
"Like a _bad _person." she cocked her head to one side. "In stories Big Bad Wolf is usually the evil one and threatening others. And saying to eat them all the time."  
Yet again the girl made him speechless. He didn't know should he take that as a compliment or be worried of his reputation.  
In second thought, he wasn't supposed to look scary for the pup now.  
"And what… Are Holly and Gren?" the girl looked at the empty doorway. Holly came back though, like hearing Aleine's question, and Gren followed the bartender right behind.  
"Trolls", Holly summarily said.  
"Oh." The girl blinked her eyes couple of times, and the Fables weren't sure was the kid really believing them. But then she said.  
"So freaks, monsters, they are… Fables?"  
"Fuck no we are freaks", Gren growled. "Who the fuck is saying that kind of shit?"  
"N- Sorry", the girl apologized with slight wariness.  
"Aleine", Bigby called her attention back to him. "Where's your father then?"  
"I don't know."  
"He's… Dead, or missing too?"  
"I don't- No, mama never speaks about him."  
"And your mother is not a- She's an ordinary _human_?"  
"Yes, she is", the girl was getting annoyed by all these stupid questions, especially about her mother being human. Again she showed some of her teeth.  
"She isn't frea- Fable. I haven't seen her so I started looking for her, then I… Saw a freak, and followed him here, because mama always says that you are nothing but trouble and don't like humans, so I thought you have done something to her as she said you would if you know about me and now you say you don't even know her and-"  
"Hey, calm down pup", Bigby was sure she was going pass out if not taking a breath. And she had seen a Fable? Bigby wasn't sure was the kid lying, was it a good coincidence, mistake…  
"I'm not a pup! I'm a human girl! I am _not_ a freak!" she almost shouted, the transforming of her happening again.

There was a small silence in the backroom, only Aleine's sounds of angry and some panic muttering as she noticed her transformations. She hugged herself tighter and bowed her head like trying to hide her appearance from them.  
_Damn. Fuck. Not again, why is this happening? It is **not**_ _supposed to happen! Fu- Mama is gonna be mad. So mad. She will be… Go away. Go away!  
_After taking a few deep breaths, the freak form fading away, she looked at Bigby with teary eyes.

He didn't know what to do with upset kid, truthfully, he didn't know how to make her more calm or something like that.  
"Why didn't you just go to police?"  
Of course it wasn't a good idea. The girl's transformations seemed to be out of control, which gave even more questions to Bigby of her, but shouldn't Aleine still had done that at first?  
Contact the Mundy police?  
"Mama said I can't show to people alone, without her. Because I… May change. And get in big trouble. You fre- Fables, don't want to be revealed to humans, so if you know I'll exist, you'll come and take mom away from me. So when she didn't come back I thought that you… Just did that, took her."  
But they didn't have mama, so they said, they didn't even know her.

The Wolf pondered this information, _this whole situation_, for a moment because this was something that he wasn't so sure how to proceed.  
Aleine is a half-Fable, but her missing mother was Mundy. So, technically, this wasn't their case, his case, to take.  
This was something that Mundy police should be working on.  
But in other hand Aleine is half-Fable, and that was something that would put them, Fables, all in a risk by randomly transforming among the humans.  
_How_ had this happened? _Who_ was the Fable-father here and _where_ was he? _Who else_ knew about this kid and her origin, _how many_ had seen her transformations? _Who_ Aleine had seen so that she had recognized them as a Fable?  
Snow is going to _flip_ when she hears all about this.

Bigby closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing deeply.  
This was a big thing now, there was just so many damn questions that-  
A sound from the girl stopped the Wolf's thoughts and getting his attention.  
He glanced at Aleine, the half-Fable, and thought what he saw. He saw scared, little child who obviously was worried of her mother and didn't seem to have anyone to help her. Being all alone but still trying to do her best to solve things by herself and help her mother.  
There was something personal, very familiar to Bigby with the scene here…  
"It's… Alright, Aleine", he said, moving his right hand towards the girl.  
He just tried to pat her head, at least intended to, but the kid snarled in a little voice and flinched more away from him.  
So no touching. Got it.  
"I'm not going hurt you. I'm here to help."  
"…You are?" even though she tried to glare with suspiciousness, he couldn't fool the Sheriff Wolf. The child was a little bit hopeful.  
He smiled to her.  
"Sure. It's my job as a Sheriff to help people", there was a dry, low chuckle but Bigby ignored it completely: "And I will also help you, if you only want me to."


	2. Who was all alone

**The Taxi  
**New York City  
Late...

Aleine had accepted mister Bigby's help.  
Like there was any other way.  
She was too afraid to go to the police, just thinking of going there was making her skin itch in a way when she grows hair where it shouldn't.  
And what would the police do? Could they find mom? Even if it was the monsters who had taken her? Would they punish mom for leaving Aleine alone at home? Would they take mom away? Would they take Aleine away? What if they would notice that Aleine wasn't completely human? What would they do? What would they-  
And she didn't know many adults here, not so much she could trust with them with this kind of big secret.  
Nor could she navigate here yet...

She _had_ concerned it but then thought better of it, that if she would really talk to someone… About… The monsters, of these Fables, and of what she could do, then _the freaks_ would come after her and brought her to her mother, if they had her.  
But this man, mister Bigby, told they didn't have mom and didn't even know of her and Aleine. They didn't seem to want any harm to them also, though that could be just a trick.  
Mom said freaks were tricksters, liars and dangerous.  
She didn't know mister Bigby, he was a stranger. He could just easily lie to her, lead her to a trap or do something bad.  
But… There was _something_ in this stranger that whispered to Aleine that he wasn't lying. There wasn't anything off about him or in his words.  
You see, Aleine had been good at telling when people lied to her or her mother. It was kind of a talent, you could say. Someone lied and Aleine could sense there was something off about them, how they said it, looked at her or away from her, the way their body acted.  
And mister Bigby's body language was easy to read, when he talked to her and looked straight to her eyes, holding himself up without flinching.  
He seemed very open, not hiding things.  
But still, he was a stranger. Who had promised to help her.  
She could trust on him for now.

_And _there really wasn't any other options. Not without risking everything.  
She really couldn't do this alone, she was just a kid even though she tried to show others she didn't need help but she had no idea where to go or where to search.  
Who to talk to and who to suspect. Where to start, what kind of clues to look for or who could want to hurt mom, or- She- She just…  
There was _no_ other way, not that Aleine saw at least now. And she was really starting to get hungry again… Chips and water back at the bar before sleeping hadn't been enough at all.  
And she didn't know the way back to home anymore, as she had wandered to places she wasn't familiar with for couple of days.  
So yes, she had accepted mister Bigby's help.

Being helped by one of the frea- _Fables_… It didn't mean thought that Aleine wasn't confused at all by whole this, she had some mixed emotions.  
Before this, Aleine had _never_ met any freaks, _fables_ she meant, before.  
Or, maybe one time. She and some kids were sure that one man in her previous neighborhood was a boogieman but she never got an answer was he or wasn't he.  
So no, she hadn't met before any freaks and now in one day she had gone to a bar where _everyone_ had been one. She had met trolls now, the Big Bad Wolf himself and she hadn't even recognize some of those who had transformed in the bar!  
She had seen the freaks now, talk to them, told about herself and mother even though she wasn't supposed to… And…  
And they weren't so…  
Scary, after all what mother had told to her. Okay, they were _a little_ bit scary at first, but after a while they seem to be just as normal as humans are.  
For example, this Bigby man had been really scary at first with his eyes and his face and- Well, everything about him as he had stood there next to the bed suddenly. But now he was helping her and he seemed okay, for now.  
And he had _promised_ to help her to find mom.

As the two of them were sitting on the backseats of the taxi, on opposite sides, Bigby glanced at the girl. Just slightly, from the corner of his eye as he didn't want to scare her by staring.  
At the Trip Trap the pup at least seemed to get easily agitated.  
So, after the girl had accept his help Bigby had asked some information from Holly. Like who had been in the bar when the kid had come in, and would the two trolls be quiet about this and so on.  
He was just trying to contain this situation's effect on the Fables. Bigby at least didn't want everyfable running to the _Woodlands _and wanting to see the half-fable or go bewildered.  
Hopefully everyone who were in there when Aleine changed were either too drunk or too confused to think anything about it or spread the rumor.  
A half-fable among them…

But all that needs to wait for tomorrow as they now were going to the Woodlands, to his apartment.  
It was late, the Office was closed, the Wolf was tired and the kid probably too was still tired. They would sleep through this night and start unraveling this mess in the morning.  
The kid seemed to nod off now and then when he looked, her eyes closing and head leaning against the window. Sleeping at the Trip Trap's backroom hadn't made much, it seemed.  
Although, who knew how long the pup had been in the streets, looking for her mother? That must had been really exhausting to a tiny pup like her.

"So, pup-"  
"Aleine." she corrected and boldly moved gaze to him, rubbing with one hand her tired eyes. Or was she crying? Please no, he didn't know how to deal- No, she was just sleepy, no tears, good.  
"Aleine", the sheriff started again with serious, somewhat concerned expression.  
"How long has this been going on, you looking for you mother? When did you last time see her?"  
The pup's expression changed from sleepy to a hard thinking one, as she looked at her hands which were resting on her thighs.  
And when Bigby looked down, he noticed her fingers where twitching. Or not twitching, just moving slightly and her gaze was on them.  
Then she looked up to him and answered with uncertainty.  
"She has been gone for… Week? Or almost. It's Sunday, right?"  
"Actually, it's Friday."  
The kid looked back down to her hands, the fingers moving again and now the girl's lips moved slightly. She was counting the days?  
"She left when it was… Tuesday. Money at least for Monday… Out… Tuesday…"  
The bells started to alarm inside his head as he listened the kid's counting. How _long_ had the mother been gone exactly?  
"I think… I think she has been away for a week and…" she counted again, just to make sure, her eyes widening, now noticing herself how long it has been.  
"Week and three days."  
The kid stared at him, panic starting to show in her eyes.

She really hadn't kept track on the days, the concern for mom being away for more than three days being the first reason for Aleine to go looking for her. But as she now count the days, it had been _long time_.  
Why hadn't she looked for her sooner? Mother would never leave her for more than three days and now it was over a week when Aleine had seen her.  
A- Anything could have happened to her in this time, anything and anywhere! Where could she possible be, why hadn't she called or something, Aleine should be looking for her_ right now_, or- Or maybe she was back at home as Aleine was out here? Yeah, maybe, and now she was worried sick and looking for her as Aleine was looking for her and now- Why- She need to-  
"Hey, hey Aleine."  
Startled by the sudden touch, Aleine snarled in a low voice, her other eye changing its color and the canine teeth transforming in her mouth. Sensing the transforming she looked away from Bigby, closing the eye and staying still.  
Bigby had immediately moved his hand away from her shoulder when she had warned him.

Aleine was feeling panic inside.  
Again. Why is this happening _again_? She thought she could control this, this _thing _in her, whatever made her a freak. She had practiced hard to keep it down, so not to hurt mom but for some time it had come harder and harder to contain, and mom was now missing and she need to calm down now, take deep breaths but-

Bigby wasn't sure what to do. He stared at the kid who was almost in a ball next to him, hugging herself and being all quiet.  
He could hear her heartbeats, fast and sharp like panicked bird. Her smell was mix from strong emotions, frustration, confusion, panic, anger…  
She was afraid but what exactly? Definitely for her mother's safety, but the way she kept reacting to her transformations, always covering her face or looking away…  
Was she afraid of _herself_? Or ashamed, or both, of _what_ she was?  
When you thought about everything she had said, reacted to things…  
She didn't know anything about being a Fable, didn't know any of them, calling them freaks in a scared tone. Assuring she herself was a human child and not like them, even if it was not the case.  
Bigby didn't know how to help the child with that. He, still, didn't know anything about being a half-fable. How they behaved, what powers they heritage from their fable parents and so on.  
He didn't know how the kid must feel of being something that she didn't understand, probably not having anyone to tell or support or… He was completely clueless about that.  
But then, he knew something about losing a mother.

"You know, I think you are really brave", he tried.  
The girl looked at him from behind her arms.  
"I don't think many would have gone to search. But you went, and kept this long. That's really impressive you know."  
She looked away again, but Bigby noticed her being a little be calmer. Even some mouth corner twitching up.  
Bigby smiled, feeling relieved that he had made the girl feel even if little bit better.  
"I just want to find mom", she quietly answered.  
"We'll find her, I promise."  
"You do?"  
"...Yeah. I do", he answered back with sureness, although he also knew that he couldn't promise that. And probably the girl knew too but still let it slip by.

"So… Fables", Aleine said like not knowing what else to say about it. Or maybe she just didn't know where to start. "You said you're like a story characters. I don't remember Big Bad Wolf being human in any of the stories."  
"We call it glamour. It helps us to look like humans and so keep us hidden."  
All though Bigby didn't need glamour. He was shape-sifter and being touched by magical blade that made it easier to him.  
The girl tilted her head to side, almost looking like a puppy with that confused look on her face.  
"What is glamour exactly? Do… Do I have a glamour?"  
Well, what Bigby had seen this far...  
"No. Glamour is magic that most fables have to get from witches. Fables like me and… You, we can shift our forms with our will. Although, I needed some magic in that too."  
The girl frowned, looking down at her hands. She grasped them into fists and then relaxed them.  
She seemed like she wanted to say something, as she was silent, but her face kept changing.  
"So the stories are true?" she asked instead, looking back up at him. "The Woodsman, three little pigs and Red Riding Hood, and the sheep and-"  
"Yeah, all of them true", Bigby smirked, thinking how she's gonna react to that one of _those three little pigs_ was in his home. And not inside the fridge nor oven.  
"So... Are they _all_ alive, in here? In this town? Are you friends, or do you still eat them? Is there also three little blind mice, the boy who cried for the wolf and Snow White and Princess Aurora and-"  
Bigby huffed as the girl's perked spirit made also him happy, feeling like he had succeeded in making her forget her worries for a moment.

* * *

**The Woodland Luxury Apartments  
**Fabletown  
Late...

In the end it hadn't been so awkward ride after all, even if the pup first had seemed to be full of fear and concern towards her mother's well-being. But she also had hope, curiousness and bravery.  
Definitely she had guts, and ability to adapt to new situations.  
She had done what had been needed, left her home's safety behind to look for her mother. She had kept going to placed that weren't familiar and even going to so called _freaks_' bar to demand answers.  
And not even running away when not getting friendly attitude there.  
And now... She was asking questions from him, the Big Bad Wolf, without a fear. Even Toad Jr. was still sometimes afraid of Bigby and they had known each other for sometime.  
Of course the pup still was somewhat cautious of him, just like pups should be with people they didn't really know, but she didn't show it.  
She looked straight into his eyes while listening as he explained about Fables community.

How they had become to this world, started their new lives. Which _characters_ were still alive, their government and all other basic things about them.  
And the kid listened with full attention, asking now and then about things and then letting him to continue.  
It was... Nice. Amusing.  
Not sure was Aleine taking this all to heart or did she think this was just some kind of dream or fairy tale or lie, but at least she was far more relaxed in the end of the ride.

"Bigby, you haven't still told me how are the three little pigs", Aleine said with a smile when they got out of the taxi. "Are they gone or do you still chase after them?"  
"Like I said, I don't do that anymore, chasing and eating people", wolf man said as he lit the cigar on his lips, taking a long breath. He hadn't talk this much in a long time. And he still didn't know anything about this pup.  
"Right. The Big Bad Wolf has become the Big Bad Sheriff", she smirked like not buying that one.  
"No, I'm not bad", Bigby denied, with some uncertainty though. "...Or I'm trying not to be."  
The pup looked at him thoughtfully, tilting her head to side.  
"Is there other wolves, like you?"  
"Like me?"  
"Yeah. Wolves from the Homelands."  
He thought for a moment, inhaling and puffing out smoke.  
"...I think so. I wasn't the only wolf around there when I last check. Not sure how many of them got to this side though, or where in this world they are now."  
Aleine seemed to think this hard, Bigby taking another smoke from his cigarette and wondering what was going on in her head.  
"Why do you ask?"  
"For nothing", she said, but seemed still troubled.  
Bigby had a hunch why she was asking, and the girl might have a right direction, but he didn't get the opportunity to ask as the kid now stared at the gates and through them the Woodlands.  
"Is this the Woodlands?" she asked, amazed, looking up to the top of the building. "It's huge!"  
Taking another breath through his cigarette Bigby huffed and walked after the running pup, opening the gate to and letting her go in first. The kid was like a monkey out of the box, looking around and running here and there in the front yard. The wolf man just stood and smoked his cigarette there, keeping an eye on her with a little confuse. Was this the same kid who he had met in the Trip Trap?  
So much for the little scared wolf attitude.  
A smile founds it way to him.  
"Does _everybody _live in here?" Aleine asked and hopped to stand on top of a stone, that had a plaque on that Snow had ordered there long time ago.  
`Stay off the grass!´ it ordered._  
_...Snow didn't need to know.  
"No." he answered and shed his burning cigarette some. "Some of us live in other parts of the city and some in other countries."  
Aleine fell silent again, then spoke again.  
"...I always suspected our neighbor to be a dwarf. Like in the stories."  
"Oh?"  
"Yeah. He was _really _short and had this long beard, almost to ground. And I swear, he wear a pointy hat!"  
Bigby laughed for that and how the kid throw her hands up after her statement, but they were interrupted as somebody walked through the opening gate. Aleine got off the stone and grass, almost taking cover behind Bigby and going all alarmed.  
It was just a Flycatcher though, who noticed the Sheriff who after all stood in the middle of the path.  
"Sheriff Bigby! Ni- Nice evening."  
"Flycatcher", the wolf man greeted back, smoking calmly.  
"Yes. Mmm", the janitor noticed the girl who was hiding behind the Sheriff, but her scowl made the awkward man keep it to himself. "Well, good evening. O- Or, night, Sheriff Bigby."  
Aleine looked as the man with a frog cap walked past them and into the tall building. Then Bigby turned to look at her.  
"...What?"  
"You don't need to glare everybody. Flycatcher is harmless", Bigby said while holding his cigar.  
The brat just shrugged her shoulders, looking towards the front doors.  
Dropping and stomping the burned cigar Bigby gestured the kid come inside the building.

In the lobby, where Grimble the troll was in deep sleep, Aleine looked around again in amaze. This place was really nice, like a hotel. Or a castle! And the fact that there was fairy tales' characters, or _F__ables_, in this place made it just more exciting!  
The kid looked at the sleeping security and then Bigby who ordered an elevator down for them.  
"Does he always sleep?"  
The Wolf glanced at the man that the girl was gesturing towards.  
"Mostly."  
"...Then why he's security? Shouldn't there be like, Cerberus or some dog guarding the place?"  
The Sheriff lifted his other brow, not sure was she intentionally trying to make a wolf-dog-joke here.  
But she didn't seem like it.  
"Trust me pup. You don't wanna woke Grimble", he only answered and it seemed to be enough for her.

* * *

**Bigby's Apartment  
**Fabletown

As Bigby opened the door to his apartment, Aleine was acting cautious again.  
She peeked inside the apartment and then looked back up to Bigby as they stood there in the doorway. He waited for a moment for her to go in, but she just stood there and kept looking inside.  
"...You going in?" He finally asked, crossing his arms.  
"After you."  
"There's isn't anything dangerous, you can go inside."  
"Okay."  
But she still didn't move. Sighing the Big Bad Wolf went instead first in, watching that the pup followed him inside before he closed the door behind them. The she again just stood there and looked at him.  
What now? Did she broke or something?  
Awkwardly clearing his throat he tried to find right words.  
"You can get your shoes off and just... Be. We will deal with your situation tomorrow", the tired Sheriff grumbled, then left the kid there as he walked into the small kitchen. Colin came to greet him though, stopping Bigby at the living room.

"It's about time you got here. I have waited that you would..." the talking pig stop and stared at the child who stared back at him eyes wide open from shock. Colin glanced to the smirking Sheriff, then said with very, very wary tone: "I know you like them sweet and all but Bigby... _This _is too much even-"  
"Shit Colin! It's just a kid!" Bigby exclaimed before the pig would go too far. Did Colin really though Bigby liked _that _kind of thing or was Colin just making a sick joke here?  
"It's a talking pig", Aleine whispered as she stared at the pig. "A talking pig."  
"And you are talking kid, a miracle. And the name's Colin, kid, and it's rude to stare", Colin remarked back.  
The girl watched now at the amused Sheriff.  
"The three little pigs are living in _your _apartment?!"  
"Just Colin." he chuckled, going to get his drink of whiskey. These two would have some time to get over each other so he could just finely take a moment for himself.

It, or he, was a talking pig!  
Aleine couldn't believe this, still staring at the pig, or Colin as he had introduced himself.  
Amused smile spread to her face as the pig looked like not liking to get all this attention.  
"So, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be-"  
"At the Farm?" he questioned like waiting something but the kid shook her head.  
"Shouldn't you be somewhere else than here? Or is Bigby keeping you as a hostage, for Christmas?"  
Aleine wasn't meaning anything bad nor making a joke, just really innocently asking this from him. Maybe that's why they heard Bigby's laugh from the other end of the apartment.  
Colin rolled his eyes in irritated manner.  
"No, he's not keeping me here against my will. More like the other way around", he answered and headed to get some whiskey from the bad wolf. Wasn't it the cats that should be caring things inside? Maybe Bigby was going through some identity crisis here.  
The girl followed him after taking her shoes off.  
She seemed to have gotten over the first shock as she started spitting out questions.  
"So why are you here then? And where are your brothers?"  
"Bigby owns to me", Colin answered tiredly back, not saying anything about his brothers. This kid was already feeling like a bug buzzing around his head and not going away.  
"Do you just look like a pig, or do you have this glama- Glamer-"  
"Glamour. No I don't, I'm just a pig without humanoid form."  
"Why?"  
The pig stopped, giving the kid a meaningful look.  
"...Sorry", she muttered and looked away from his gaze, but still followed as he walked to the armchair where Bigby was drinking.  
"So why is this kid-"  
"Aleine", the child corrected.  
"-Kid, here?" the pig asked from the Sheriff and eyed at the drink that Bigby had.

Bigby thought where to start, and why not from the start?  
"I'm helping her to find her mother." he simply said but that wasn't enough, not for Colin.  
"And you are helping a mundy kid here because...?"  
Bigby looked at Aleine, to know that did she want to tell or not. But she seemed kinda also a bit out of what was this... Situation. She also stared at him.  
"...She's not a mundy. Entirely."  
"What do you mean? She's half fable or something?" the pig asked jokingly, then went silence when seeing Bigby's serious look.  
Now it was _Colin's_turn to stare at the kid in shock.  
Aleine had her glare-mode on again, not liking to be called by that word.  
"She is?!" shocked Colin looked back to Bigby who sighed in frustration.  
He didn't know either what exactly was it! She. Her. The kid!  
"You're saying this kid is _a half-fable_? Now how does that even work?"  
"I am _not _a freak!"  
The shout from Aleine made the whole apartment go silent as Bigby and Colin turned their full attention at the half-breed.

The girl was staring both of them furiously, one turning to beast like, nails sharpening and turning to dark. Fur growing on her form here and there.  
"I. Am. Not a freak", she growled while showing her canine teeth, every hair on her standing up. "I am not like you, I'm a human being. So stop calling me a freak!"  
"Nobody is saying anything that you are a freak, Aleine", Bigby tried to calm the girl down, rising from his chair.  
Colin was not sure should he say anything, for once, or duck to cover.  
When you know how Bigby would be when he got angry, you probably didn't even want to try it with Bigby Jr.

"I am not a Fable", the wolf girl kept denying with growl, hands clenching into fists.  
That gesture made her feeling her sharp claws, making her to flinch and open them immediately. Her eyes hurt and staring at Bigby who smelled from her something that he was familiar with.  
Even though he didn't show it to anyone.  
"I'm not a freak", she said silently, swallowing hard.  
"I know you aren't", the wolf man said while kneeling in front of the kid.  
Hazel eyes followed him, the pup being like a scared and hurt animal in the edge of fleeing or freezing to its place.  
And Bigby didn't need around running half-fable now.  
"You know-" Bigby glanced at Colin, who stood there for a minute before getting the hint and strutting somewhere else in the apartment.  
But it was a small apartment so not accidentally listening was hard to make...  
"I feel the same way too, Aleine", Bigby started.  
Aleine blinked her outmatching eyes, her face blank as if showing any emotion would be bad thing now. But the tone of her voice was a giveaway.  
"...You do?"  
"Yeah", he confessed with small nod.  
"After all, I'm the Big _Bad _Wolf you know? Everybody here is afraid or angry to me for one or other reason, no matter what I do as I always seem to make bad choices. Nobody is happy to what I do. So I feel like an outcast, even among of my own kind."  
That seemed to calm Aleine down, as she thought was the Big Bad Wolf had told just now.  
"You don't seem so bad as in the stories Bigby. I think you are nice", she said with a faint smile, he returning it and then lifting his other hand.  
Slowly and placing it gently between on top of Aleine's head, petting her half curling brown hair.  
"Well, I'm very glad that even one is thinking like that. Thanks Aleine."

* * *

It was ones said, that everyone knows that the Big Bad Wolf lives in the Woodlands' smallest apartment, and it's not exaggerating.  
One room apartment with way too small kitchen, closet room and a tiny bathroom, that's it. So Bigby wasn't very equipped to have sudden a sleepover in his home.  
The pup hadn't complained nor said anything though, when he had said she could sleep on the two persons couch.  
Taking off her hoodie, having a gray t-shirt under it, she thanked him. And making herself comfortable the pup fell asleep on the furniture in no time. She had been more exhausted than Bigby had thought.  
Though, now Bigby didn't have a place to sleep for himself, except the hard wooden chair in front of his working table. Just dam great, he should invest to get a better couch here or something else.

After showing to Aleine where she could sleep and her going to bed, Bigby drunk the rest of his first whiskey shot in the kitchen.  
Opening the freezer and noticing that he was out of ice. Again.  
"Nice" he muttered while throwing the empty ice tray back in, getting his whiskey just like that and leaned against a counter.  
Colin walked in the kitchen, and looked at the Sheriff with a sly smile.  
"You know Bigby,_ I _don't think you are that bad either... If you give me that drink."  
"Shut up", the man grumbled. "It has been a long day to me, dealing with punch of paper works and now this."  
"Yeah, she really has a temper. Like someone I know..."  
Awkward silence.  
Colin cleared his throat under Bigby's heavy gaze.  
"So, what is she really? We don't have any half-fables, not those we have seen or heard of."  
"Look I don't know it either", the Sheriff confessed and was irritated by the fact. "And she also doesn't know as her mother seems to be a Mundy and the father hasn't even been in the picture. Or at least that's what I figured out of the kid's tale."  
Although she really didn't tell much about her. He needed to fix that tomorrow.

"Yeah, it really seems to bother her. The half-breed thing I mean. She surely flipped out from that", the pig analyzed, watching closely as the whiskey glass was getting emptier and emptier...  
"Then you shouldn't hint anything to that when she's around."  
"Well, it would might help if I could have something to drink, keeping my mouth busy", the pig hinted, glancing from the drink to Bigby.  
And knowing better the Sheriff gave it to Colin, placing the glass to the floor and walking to the dark main room.  
Giving one last glance at the small sleeping figure on the sofa he sat down on the uncomfortable chair, crossing his arms and trying to get nice enough pose to sleep some.

Now if Bigby too could just have a nap, damn he needed to.


	3. And was found by the Big Bad Wolf

**Bigby's Apartment  
**Fabletown  
Morning

Bigby woke up with a fright, almost springing up to his feet with startled growl.  
Sharp teeth bared, eyes turning into deep gold and hair growing and all instincts going wild he listened the sounds and smelled the scents in his apartment.  
Scanning for someone, intruder...  
But not noticing anyone else than Colin who was snoring in front of him.  
But Bigby continued to listen, his heart beating fast, stretching his hearing.  
No. Everything was fine, it had been just a dream. No one-else was in the apartment, coming after his head to separate it from his body.

With a shaky breath the Big Bad Wolf rubbed his face, wiped away light sweat from his forehead and concentrated to calm down. It worked and he returned back to his human form while sitting on the wooden chair.  
...It had been just a dream, a bad one, were that freaking red-headed psycho bitch had yet again sneaked into his apartment.  
It might have been three years already, but that didn't mean that the Big Bad Wolf would easily forget that night when he almost kicked the bucket. No. This probably wouldn't ever go away, he just had to deal with it.  
As Bigby slowly relaxed, though feeling his body stiff from sleeping on the hard wood, he noticed that something was feeling off in the air. It was _just _him and Colin in his apartment.

"Aleine?" he called for the pup, not seeing her curled up on the sofa.  
He didn't smell her, not like she was still there as the girl's scent was weak in the air. As there was no respond the grumbling Sheriff rose up from and waking up Colin with his voice. The pig woke with a snort and smacked its mouth while wondering what's going on.  
"Hey kid, are you in there?"  
Knocking on his closed bathroom's door Bigby waited for a minute, hoping that he just had a cold nose but knew it was just a hopeful thinking. He had the sharpest nose in Fabletown, or in the whole city.  
So when there was not any kind of answer, Bigby opened the door and started to look through the tiny bedroom. The kid was not behind the shower curtains nor inside of closet room.  
"Shit", wolf man started to curse, searching a bit faster through the rest of the apartment, just hoping that the kid hadn't fucking fled of.  
Colin was just standing and looking how the Big Bad Wolf looked around as he couldn't really help. He also didn't know where the girl was.  
"She just ran off?!" Bigby snarled and headed to the front door.  
When he would just get his hands on her he would-

An haughty sounding voice behind the door made him stop on his tracks.  
_"You little brat! Stop that."  
"Let me go!"  
"Just wait till I'll give you to the Sheriff. He will-"_  
Just hearing _who _were there Bigby immediately opened the door. Seeing always so stuck up Bluebeard standing there and glaring down at Aleine.  
The girl was growling and trying to release herself from the aristocrat's tight hold on her neck.  
Seeing Bigby, a cocky smirk spread across Blueabeard's face.  
"Ah, mister Sheriff. I think I have something of yours her-"  
Aleine kicked the bald man's leg and made Bluebeard to flinch and automatically lift his free hand in almost slapping gesture...  
Bigby reacted immediately, taking iron-like a grip from the raised hand and pulling Aleine away from the haughty Fable.  
She took cover from behind Bigby, holding a paper bag and glaring at the snooty lofty man. Bigby hadn't tell her there was crazy Fables around here!

The Wolf was not covering the cold glare in his eyes while he let go of the baldy's hand.  
"Now, Bluebeard. What is going on?" he demanded in grave tone, crossing his arms with a glare. Bigby might be the Big Bad Wolf but even _he _knew that hitting a kid was not a nice thing to do.  
After a little tiding up the one of the richest Fables explained calmly.  
"Nothing more than just Fabletown residents' safety, mister Sheriff. I saw this little runt-"  
"I'm not a runt!" Aleine barked, glancing angrily at the wolf man who gestured her to be silent.  
Giving a pompous glare to the brat Bluebeard continued.  
"I saw this _girl_ in our yard, trying to break in-"  
"I didn't break in", Aleine snapped again while peeking around Bigby. "_You_ let me in", she ended with a smirk cast to the baldy.  
Bluebeard was having enough of this, this _imp_ didn't have any respect towards adults!  
"I don't care who that arrogant child is, or better yet, _whose_, but I'm trusting in you, mister Wolf ,that you'll keep your cub in line. For all our sake."  
Having the last word the aristocrat walked away, his head high and acting cool. Mister Wolf was already a trouble to keep in the line, one more like him would just give more troubles to Bluebeard.

Bluebeard's authorized attitude at least didn't work on Aleine, who with Bigby peeked out of the doorway and watched the baldy's going.  
"...Egghead", she muttered, and stuck her tongue out.  
Wolf man pulled her inside and closed the door behind them quickly.  
It was just nine in the morning and the kid had already got in trouble. With Bluebeard.  
And she had a small scar across her left cheek, Bigby now seeing that and smelling the faint blood. The wound was fresh.  
But Aleine still had sneaked out from the apartment without his permission nor even telling or leaving a message.  
"What were you doing out there? You shouldn't go out all by yourself. And pissing off Bluebeard wasn't the smartest idea you know."  
"Well, first of", she started. "You _never _said I couldn't leave the apartment. I was hungry. And second, that ball head started to accuse me just like that. Like I was some fucking stray cat sniffing around his precious food bowl! Is he always that stuck up, or did just somebody screw an iron stick up to his ass?"

Bigby tried to hold in half laugh and half growl. He really didn't have the energy for this.  
"Fine, I'm saying it now, you will not leave this apartment or go without me anywhere _alone_. And there is food in the fridge", wolf man said and took the paper bag from the pup, investigating what she got.  
White bread, eggs, bacon, milk and... One carrot?  
"No there isn't. I don't drink whiskey and ketchup isn't food. And those sausages in that bag will soon rise up and crawl out of there", Aleine answered while following him to the kitchen. Bigby checked up the content of his fridge.  
...Fine. She was right, this one time. She still got in trouble though.  
"And where did you get this food?"  
"I didn't steal it", she said like she was accused, again, of something she didn't do. Bigby could smell that she didn't tell the truth and he looked at the girl with deep scowl.  
"Aleine. If you stole this I hav-"  
"I didn't steal it!" she snapped. "I just... Earn it."  
Bigby sighed, thinking what the girl meant and hoped she hadn't done something stupid.  
...No, he wasn't going to do this, not now. He would just make the damn breakfast and that's it.  
But first...

"And the scar?" he asked and the kid shrugged, opening her mouth to say-  
"And tell the truth, or you aren't gonna get food."  
"But _I_ got the food!"  
"And this is _my _apartment."  
The girl muttered something under her breath before letting out irritated sigh.  
"Fine, the mister skin head got angry when I out smarted him."  
Bigby frowned, feeling a spike.  
"He hit you?"  
"No, slapped." the girl shrugged and not faced by it at all. "And he hits like a girl. And _I'm_ a girl."  
The joke didn't make the Wolf crack a smile, instead he looked at the pup with concern. And anger towards Bluebeard's doing.  
"You know he did wrong by hitting you?" he asked. The girl just looked at him.  
Wolf man didn't let Aleine to protest as he started to check the wound, holding her chin in gentle but still firm manner.  
The wound was very minor one, a scratch, probably left by one of baldy's rings.  
Bigby let Aleine pull away from his hold, the wolf man sighing and turning around with the grocery bag.

"I'm fine. And I can do the breakfast", Aleine tried to get between there as the Big Bad Wolf started to hassle. He just gestured her out of the kitchen. _His _kitchen**.  
**"Sure you can, now shoo."  
"Damn it."  
"And don't swear, okay? You are a kid, you shouldn't even know those kind of words. And don't take that damn carrot when the food is coming!"  
"This is for Colin!" she barked back and get out of the kitchen. Cheez! Who woke up the Big Bad Wolf from his slumber so badly?

"Getting in trouble right in the morning?" the pig teased while laying on the armchair in cozy position. Unfortunately he couldn't have come to the door when Blue there was suffering Aleine's attitude, it had heard fun, but Colin really wasn't allowed to be out of the Farm so...  
He looked at the carrot that the kid was offering towards him.  
"...Just a carrot? What am I, a family pet?"  
"There's also bacon?" Aleine smirked, still offering the carrot. The pig scowled half-heartedly.  
"You are just like Bigby, both of you are meat-eating monsters."  
"And I thought pigs were om- Ome- _Om_nivores?" Aleine finally said after struggling with the hard word.  
"Yeah but we still aren't cannibals", Colin protested while munching the damn carrot. At least the kid shut her mouth to smile at him.

* * *

**Fabletown Business Office  
**The Woodland building

After the breakfast it was time to work on Aleine's problem about her missing mother.

She looked at all the Fables who were lining up to the Business Office where she and Bigby were heading too.  
All the Fables, they had to be Fables because she really didn't think they would let any humans in their headquarters, looked like ordinary people.  
She actually had waited to see here more Fables in their real forms, Colin being here the only one so far. And she wasn't even sure could Colin be counted in. He was _just _a talking pig after all.  
Not like a troll, a fairy, a unicorn or- Or the giant wolf that Bigby here was suppose to be. The girl glanced up to him.  
She wanted to see real Fables with her own eyes, Bigby's true form too.  
Would he show her if she asked?

All of the waiting Fables started to stare when the two of them showed up, Aleine walking behind the Sheriff and mister Wolf boldly just starting to walk past the line to the door.  
"Is that the half-breed?" someone whispered in the line and Bigby glanced, seeing everyone staring only at Aleine who noticing it took a hold on his shirt's hem.  
"She looks like ordinary Mundy to me."  
"Doesn't seem to have Glamour on."  
Bigby let the girl in first as he opened the door, closing it and the whispers and stares behind it. Looking at the silent girl he could see she was nervous after hearing them. He petted her head, getting a mild sad gaze from her. Deciding not to say anything Bigby tried to offer reassuring smile as he drop the petting hand and offered it to her.  
She took it, small hand disappearing under his closing fingers.

Aleine let Bigby lead her further into the large hall they were in. It wasn't ordinary office what she had excepted, looking all around at all the peculiar things there. It was more like a storage hall than some small office to deal official business things.  
There was a stuffed rhino's head on a wall, lot of different closets filled with stuff, old furniture, giant iron glove and-  
With wide eyes Aleine almost stopped to stare at the large tree that seemed to grow on the central of the whole room. And then she saw a flying ship that slowly sailed through the hall! How- Could she got on that, please, pretty please?!  
Then she noticed a hanged man on one of the tree branches, making her startle.  
...That wasn't real, right?  
She didn't want to know, concentrating now just to follow Bigby, although now and then looking around them.  
They soon arrived to a small clearing where there was two desks with chair, and behind one of the tables was a woman who rose when noticing them.  
The woman was really pretty, her skin beautifully pale like fresh snow, hair deep black like raven's feathers and eyes blue like clear sky. But there was something unnerving about her as she approached them with a stern face, steps quickly and lightly scowling at Bigby.  
The woman was not yelling or showing teeth, not showing clear aggression. It was the cold calmness on her that made Aleine hold tighter on Bigby's hand. He stood relaxed though, waiting for the woman to stand in front of them.

"Bigby", Snow White greeted evenly, arms crossed and her gaze steady. But when she looked down at the little girl, her expression softened.  
"Snow", the Sheriff greeted back, not entirely sure what he had made wrong _this time_ but Snow White would probably tell in a minute. But now her attention was in the pup who seemed to be nervous of her.  
There wasn't any reason for that though, and Bigby tried to signal it with his casual standing and rubbing the back of Aleine's holding hand with his thumb.  
The Fable woman crouched in her skirt and smiled to the shying child.  
"Hi", she started gently. "I'm Snow White, the mayor of Fabletown. And you?"  
The girl blinked, staring at the woman before stepping a bit forward from leaning on the Big Bad Wolf. The girl stretched her free hand towards Snow who looked it for a moment in surprise, before handshaking with the little one.  
"I'm Aleine Bates, the human girl", she grinned and gave a stern shake to Snow's own.  
A small sense of pride sprout inside of the Wolf's chest, as he looked at the girl bravely greeting Snow.


End file.
